No Escape
by Silver Katsuyami
Summary: Under Construction and Temporary Hiatus. Don't like where this is, or where it's going, must fix.
1. I Dreamed a Dream

**Chapter 1: I Dreamed A Dream**

"I had a dream my life would be, so different from this hell I'm living. So different now from what it seemed, now life has killed the dream I dreamed." Her voice echoes hauntingly down the deserted streets of Gotham. This is how it had been since Bane's take over. Only one month in and Gotham had crumbled. The police force sits, waiting for nothing under the very concrete her heavy boot covered feet walk across. Snow falls softly onto her black faux fur lined jacket. She pauses to listen to the sounds of a crumbling society, and she can't help but smile slightly.

She had been everything; she had risen up from the cesspool of the Narrows and was so close to the lap of luxury to have it ripped cruelly from her hands. She had started as nothing more than a scared little girl, at only 15 she was volunteering at the bar as a singer, and at the animal shelter as a dog walker. By 18 she was getting paid for singing and trained to be a Veterinarian. When she had turned 20 the bar and the Shelter sponsored her, and got her out of Gotham to go to college, somewhere nice upstate. Then this happened. Now 21, she was supposed to be in college right now. Three weeks ago, one week after Bane turned Gotham upside down, she was supposed to leave.

"There was a time when men were kind, when their voices were soft and their words inviting. There was a time when love was blind, and the world was a song, and the song was exciting. There was a time. Then it all went wrong" She continues on her way, walking slowly, a pair of baggy black pants hides her legs, and her coat is thick enough it leaves much more to the imagination then any of her other clothes. The only things that work anymore are the street lights. Traffic lights died long ago, and the street lights were out at first, but the one thing Bane did for the people of Gotham was give them light. Every now and again he would give other things, like extra food, maybe allow the people to throw a festival, it was all part of his game.

She figured he thrived on them having hope, that soon something bad would happen, that the symbolic shit would hit the giant factory sized symbolic fan and cover the people of Gotham in literal shit. She was waiting, biding her time.

"But the tigers come at night with their voices soft as thunder. As they tear your hope apart, as they turn your dream to shame" a stray tear runs down her cheek, her voice was filled with haunting emotion. All of the anger, the sadness the pain of the last month always showed true in her voice.

"Well, what a pretty little song bird we have here." Her eyes shoot up as she stops under a street lamp. There, some of Bane's men standing there, leering at her. "Oh don't stop your pretty song, keep singing." One man teases in a Cockney accent. She rolls her eyes, this was something she was used to. She was also used to running.

"Free shows at the bar in the Narrows every Thursday, the one thing I have to thank your boss for." Her voice is soft, dangerous and bitter with a slight lilt to the end, as if she had spent a month in Ireland perhaps.

She can't see their faces but the way they stiffened makes her think she may have hit a chord. The snow falls thicker, the flakes big enough to touch the filth covered street and survive for a few moments. She's unable to resist, she tilts her head back and sticks out her tongue, catching a flake on it, and making her smile. A real smile that makes her chuckle and wonder if she is mad. Her hood falls to reveal silver hair pulled up into a prim bun.

After her moment of childishness she turns her attention back to the men, her eyes catching the light. The men stop, and stiffen again, the shadows of their bodies against the light faltering slightly.

"What the fuck?! She has red eyes!" she rolls her odd eyes at the mans statement.

"Thank you captain obvious. Have a shitty night gentlemen." She mutters and turns on her heel and walks away. They don't chase her and she walks on, and continues singing softly.

"I had a dream my life would be so different from this hell I'm living. So different now from what it seemed. Now life has killed the dream I dreamed." Her voice is airy and chilling even in the winters cold.

"You're either brave or incredibly stupid to be out at night alone." She would have to be to not know that voice. To not know that stance. The very reason for her anger stands in front of her under the street light, Bane in all his demented glory.

"I handle myself." She almost regrets the bite to her tone. She had never been this close to him, probably all of twelve feet between the two. He chuckles lightly and she's taken aback.

"With looks like yours, it's easy to see how you survive. Very intimidating to my men. But you're stupid to flaunt them. Sticking out isn't the way to survive Gotham." His mask distorts his voice, a sound that pierces her very soul. She pulls her hood up self-consciously and glances to the ground, unable to meet his piercing gaze.

"Tell me little one, what is your name?" she looks up again and bites back a sigh and a smart ass comment.

"Misha McCullen." She answers and she can tell he doesn't believe her.

"Two very different cultures your name is from. An odd name and odd looks." His words burn her in a way no words had before. A swelling deep in her chest almost in her stomach makes her want to lash out.

"My father was Irish and my mother is Russian. What's so hard to comprehend there?" she snaps without thinking and puts her hands over her mouth, wishing she could pull the words back. He is in front of her before she can blink, making her jump and try to step back. He grabs her by the throat and her hands go to his arm in protest before he can choke her.

"Little Mice should learn to scuttle under the ruble of the city, lest they meet a cat more then willing to eat them." His cold eyes meet her red ones and he releases her.

"I will be in touch Misha McCullen. Goodnight little one." He steps back and turns, walking away. She lets out the breath she didn't know she was holding, anxiety swelling in her body as she turns again and heads to her small apartment occupied by her, four cats, a Tibetan mastiff mutt, a cocker spaniel mix and a black lab pit bull mix. She faintly thinks of when he was so close. He smelled of gun powder, gasoline and cologne.

**For you, to subside your boredom. **


	2. Facade Of the Century

**Chapter 2: Façade of the Century **

_Another shitastic day in paradise, I need to get out of this dreary city. It's so oppressive, even if it wasn't under occupation. A metropolitan city filled with oppression, sadness, depression and superficial people pretending they're not. The only way to get anywhere is to sleep with someone, kill someone or sleep with someone, and then kill them. _Red eyes glance to the window of her rundown apartment. It was the one thing she had left that was truly hers, because with a dog bigger than her sleeping in her living room people generally break in, see him, and leave again before he gets up. She glances back at her journal and sighs, shutting the book and stretching, softly kicking her Tibetan Mastiff at the end of her bed. He snorts and looks at her with a wrinkled face and big brown eyes.

"What? Did I disturb you? Oh I'm sorry Beast, whose a good boy?" she smiles and coos at him, and for all her effort she gets one wag of his tail and he lays his giant head back down. "Lazy mutt" she pouts and lets out a yawn. "Well kids, off to raise morale I go!" she's almost cheerful. A week after her run in with Bane was a week before Thanksgiving, and one thing even Bane's men wanted was a big celebration. Every bartender, bar goer and waitress would be there, and so would she. She finds it slightly proposertous to think that a celebration, that can't hold a candle to the normal one, would help the situation at all. She shrugs 'The kids will love it' she smiles slightly and shakes her head.

She stands and walks to her closet, picking clothes for the weather. It would most likely be snowing again, never enough to stick but enough to freeze and always cold enough to chill the bones, so she picks suitable clothes. After changing she checks herself over in the mirror and puts on her shades, leaving her back length white hair down. Her black jeans hug her hips and fall loose around her calves, with a red and black skull belt to hold them up, and a simple black tank top with an anarchy symbol in purple under her fur coat. She chuckles at her own irony. She grabs her iridescent butterfly knife from her dresser and pulls on her boots before leaving her room.

It's a decent sized two room apartment, with a decent sized bathroom and windows galore. She was unable to shut out the light for long, especially in the current situation, the sunlight warms her apartment and makes her smile. She goes into the bathroom and pulls off her shades, deep red eyes meeting the mirror and decides her makeup. Black lipstick, black eyeliner, red eyeshadow to match her eyes and no mascara, she could never bring herself to use it, she liked that her lashes were naturally black with white tips. She leaves the bathroom after replacing her shades and goes to the spare bedroom, two baby gates stacked on top of each other stands as the door to where she keeps the animals when she leaves, all but Beast. She takes the gates down and rounds up the cats first, then the dogs. She puts the gates back up and is ready to go.

She does a once over of her apartment, checking food, water, locks, and shutting her curtains before leaving and locking up behind her. She lets out a nervous sigh and is on her way down the stairs, her black boots announcing her departure. She shares the building with squatters and a few old couples, all of whose apartments had been raided. Nothing is safe anymore.

The town square is crowded with kids and adults, some of each carrying guns. The ones with red scarves, those are Bane's real men. They are the men that had been there from the beginning. The others were mostly prisoners and drug dealers or orphans with nowhere else to turn. Everyone is dressed warm and for the first time in a month and a half people are smiling and kids are playing. Some of Bane's mercenaries were even smiling, putting some at ease and others, like her, on edge. The stage they erected was made from a pile of cars with a wooden platform across them all. She makes her way through the crowd, smiling at people she remembered and pushing past people who didn't matter, to the back of the stage.

Somehow they had gotten state of the art music equipment set up, and were testing it without a hitch. She meets with her boss, a swarthy man who could have been Russian if it wasn't for the Jersey accent.

"Alright you know your set list, you're after Nina and the girls, be ready. Oh and Misha, take your damn glasses off." He never did like her hiding her eyes, said she shouldn't hide any part of herself. She rolls her eyes behind the tinted plastic and smiles.

"Boss you and I both know I need two things, contacts and sun light" he can't keep his grin hidden from her and he just shakes his head. She had been lucky enough to not have pasty white skin, there is some tone to it, maybe two shades above pasty, possibly Alabaster. Her boss told her she had a warm glow about her that helps her complexion.

"Shut up and get ready." Is said with a smile. She was never able to get mad at him, he was the owner of the bar that had been sponsoring her to get her out of Gotham and into college. She nods and sits, looking out from behind the stage at the crowd. So many men and women she used to know, now all changed for either better or worse by Bane's takeover. She glances to her left and can see the remains of one of the bridges that used to connect Gotham to the rest of the world, and shakes her head. It may be easy for some to forget for a moment what happened. Not her, she could never forget. She had been walking Beast home from the Coffee shop, the owners Rick and Sarah, or Mama and Papa to most, loved seeing Beast. They were the ones that had given him to her when he was a puppy, when the ground shook, setting Beast on edge. She watched as the bridge on the North side collapsed, then watched as an alley fell in. She fell to the ground and hugged her giant dog, burying her face into his soft fur while he growled at the flying debris around them.

When the world settled she found that part of Gotham in ruin, and all she could think of were her other pets. She prayed that her apartment was safe, that her animals had gotten out if it wasn't. She had never run so fast in her life, with Beast running right beside her she ran seven blocks that day, dodging people, shrapnel and cars, and nearly collapsed when she found her apartment untouched. She almost stopped to rest but ran up the stairs instead and opened her apartment, locked the door behind her and opened the gates to sit on the ground and hug her terrified animals.

"I pick all my skirts to be a little to sexy, just like all my thoughts they always get a bit naughty, when I'm out with my girls I always play a bit bitchy, can't change the way I am, Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy me." She blinked rapidly as the end of the song brought her back to the present and shakes her head. She glances at the four girls on stage, all dressed provocatively and looking like they were freezing. She saw no point in dressing up for something that was only a façade. This is nothing compared to the normal Thanksgiving celebration, in which there were parades, street vendors, candy and happy children everywhere. As the girls clamor off the stage, slipping down the windshields of cars to make it to the ground, she stands up and walks up to stand behind the red tattered curtain and grabs a microphone.

"I told you on the day we wed, I's gonna love you till I's dead, made you wait till our wedding night that's the first and the last time I wear white." She sighs and waits for the drum, then steps out of the curtain onto the stage, receiving a roar of applaud. Many of the men and women enjoyed her shows at the bar and around the town, she performed for free most of the time, and she never left the crowd wanting.

"So if the ties that bind ever do come loose, tie em in a knot like a hangman's noose, cuz I'll go to heaven or I'll go to hell before I see you with someone else. Put me in the ground, put me six foot down, and let the stone say, here lies a girl whose only crutch was lovin one man just a little too much, if you go before I do I'm gonna tell the gravedigger that he better dig two." She was always very animated in her singing, moving, waving her arms, her voice full of passion and her body full of attitude. The audience roars for her, screaming and clapping, the happiness on their faces is something she loves. Some people began singing when she sang the rest of the song, it was a song she preferred for her opening sets, and when she ended the audience didn't miss a beat. "I told you on the day we wed, I was gonna love you till I was dead." She ended bowing her head and letting out a sigh. From behind her long hair she sees three men walking to the front of the crowd. Dr. Jonathan Crane, a tanned man, and Bane. Her heart leaps into her throat and she almost misses her entrance.

"Yeah here we go for the hundredth time, Hand grenade pins in every line, Throw 'em up and let something shine, Going out of my fucking mind" her smile returns and so does her attitude as she glares out at the audience behind her glasses. "Filthy mouth, no excuse Find a new place to hang this noose String me up from atop these roofs. Knot it tight so I won't get loose. Truth is you can stop and stare, Run myself out and no one cares, Dug a trench out, laid down there. With a shovel up out of reach somewhere. Yeah someone pour it in, Make it a dirt dance floor again, Say your prayers and stomp it out, When they bring that chorus in" she paces the stage, her neck burning with the cold eyes following her every move. She could see them from the corners of her eyes, watching her like hawks and it bothered her that she didn't know why.

The next chorus was going to be tricky, she had to jump down into the audience. She swings herself down onto the ground, right between Scarecrow and Bane. She immediately brings the microphone up to her lips, continuing on her attitude tirade. "I bleed it out, go, stop the show Choppy words in a sloppy flow, Shotgun I pull, lock and load Cock it back and then watch it go. Mama help me I've been cursed Death is rolling in every verse. Candy paint on his brand new Hearse. Can't contain him he knows he works" the people around her are clapping and have formed a half circle around her, not daring to get too close to the three men closest to the stage.

"Fuck this hurts, I won't lie. Doesn't matter how hard I try. Half the words don't mean a thing, And I know that I won't be satisfied. So why try ignoring him? Make it a dirt dance floor again. Say your prayers and stomp it out when they bring that chorus in" the band takes over then as she moves around, singing into the mic with a passion that she digs from her anger, the circle seems smaller, with more mercenaries in the front. When the song ends she's greeted by a roar and applause.

She turns to climb back up onto the stage and Bane offers a hand to help her up. She glances at him and his hand and decides the smarter way to go was to take his hand. She nods her head in thanks and steps up. She then sits cross legged on the stage as her boss brings her a cardboard cup and places the microphone in front of her on the ground. Bane is standing right in front of her.

She begins tapping the cup and moving it, creating a sweet beat.

"I got my ticket for the long way round, two bottles of whiskey for the way, and I sure would like some sweet company, I'm leaving tomorrow what d'ya say? When I'm gone, when I'm gone, when I'm gone, when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me by my hair you're gonna miss me everywhere. You're gonna miss me when I'm gone" she continues and manages to pull her glasses off, looking out into the audience with her deep red eyes.

"I got my ticket for the long way round, the one with the prettiest views. Its got mountains its got rivers Its got sights'll give you shivers. But it sure would be prettier with you" as she goes, more beats pick up, and her segment is almost over. She slows her tapping and smiles softly as someone hugs her shoulders from behind.

"I really can't stay."

"But baby it's cold outside." A deep rumbling voice comes from behind her. She looks backwards up at the man that had been standing next to Bane, his mercenary. She had no clue they sang.

"I've got to go 'way"

"But baby it's cold outside." She loses herself to song and dance, and for a moment enjoys herself on stage. The song flies by and they end in a bow, her smile bigger than it had been in a long time. It's only when she walks off stage and sees Bane and Scarecrow waiting to talk to her that she remembers, it's all a grand façade.

**There ya have it. A little more about her, and just filling in the three random months that Bane kept Gotham under his control. **


	3. A Court Where a Jester Rules In the Land

**For those who didn't catch the "She's pale, but not pasty" and the "We both know I need more sun" hints to go along with her red eyes, she's albino. I'm sorry for any confusion and any possible Mary Sue issues. **

**Chapter 3: **A Court Where a Jester Rules

It had started out as a normal day. As the sun shone through her window blinds she woke up, showered, fed the animals, let them run loose and raise hell around her apartment while she read, made lunch and locked the animals back up. It was late in the afternoon from her spot on her chair, curled in a ball with a rather interesting trashy romance novel when she decided she should probably get up and take Beast for his afternoon walk when there was a knock at the door. She groaned and the events from the previous few days came swimming back to her.

"Just a moment!" she called as she tried to reign in the barking brute of a dog. "Beast, down!" she finally growled in a disturbingly calm voice. The creature stopped and sat, whining and staring at the door. She pulls slender fingers through her soft messy locks and walks to the door, opening it slowly. When she saw that it was Crane and Barsad, she reluctantly opened her door.

"Please come in" she muttered and added swine at the end in her thoughts. Nothing bothered her more then having those men step onto her crème colored rug with their filth ridden shoes. She groaned as she watched the trail they left from her living room to her kitchen. At least in there it was linoleum and she could just sweep and mop and disinfect. In the living room she would have to get on her hands and knees and scrub for hours. She lets out another sigh and watches Beast follow the men, growling all the way.

"Oh shut it ya big brute." She shoves his head to the side and he snorts at her, making her smile. She looks up at the men, red meeting brown and an extraordinary blue.

"Interesting choice of clothing knowing we were coming today Miss. McCullen." Scarecrow's smooth voice seems to caress her ears before she realizes what he's said. She glances down at her black tank top and fuzzy Happy Bunny pajama pants and shrugs.

"In the one place I can relax I prefer to be underdressed." She replied with yet another sigh.

"Have you thought about the offer?" Barsad asked. She glances to him and thinks to herself that in another time, another place, she could have found him attractive to the point of dating, she shakes that thought off and nods slightly.

It had been the one thing she had tried not to think about, the proposal. Bane and Scarecrow had approached her after her set and asked to have a word.

"_Miss. McCullen, I hear you have guard dogs." His voice sends a rough shiver down her spine that she blames on the cold. She nods, moving a strand of hair behind her ear. _

"_I have one guard dog, but yes I have him. Why might you ask?" she tries to keep her manners in check while her mind races. What could he possibly want with Beast? This man, who took down a metropolitan kingdom in less then twenty four hours stands before her, hands hanging on to his fur lined coat and wrinkles at the corners of his eyes._

"_Well, we need to find someone. The story is that your dog single handedly found a lost little boy stuck in a sewage pipe. A nose like that could be very useful." Scarecrow smirks at her and she nods in acknowledgement of the man's words._

"_He did. I'm taking it you want Beast to find whoever you are looking for. In that case, why not use a police dog?" she already knew the answer. Beast found the boy where police dogs had already been through. _

"_You already know the answer to that little mouse. You have a week to decide. Be warned my dear mouse, there is a reason people seldom say no to me." And with that the two turned and walked away. She let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding and ran her fingers through her hair as she realized how utterly irritating his voice is. The next week had gone by in a blur of nerves and Misha trying to forget about the proposal, already knowing that she couldn't say no, but she tried her hardest not to think about it. _

And here she stands in front of the king's knight and his Jester. She looks between the two and sighs. "When and where do you want us to meet?" she asked as she busies herself getting a glass of water for her suddenly closed throat, a thin layer of sweat gathers at the base of her neck as she awaits an answer.

"One hour from now, City Hall. From there the dog will find our prize, and after is up to Bane." Barsad said with a smirk, and he nodded as he showed himself out.

"Good day Miss McCullen, I look forward to seeing you at City Hall." There was something dark in the way he bent to kiss her hand, the way he looked at her, but she let it pass for the sake of getting him the hell out of her apartment.

She stood, watching as the rich faced the judgement of an insane man. He sits perched high up on a jumble of desks and benches, smiling down at the people shivering in fear below him. She believes he gets physically intoxicated off of the fear in the room on a daily basis. She watches this charade of a court, led by the jester and watched over by the king's men. She stands near the back, in blue jeans and her faux fur coat, hair up in a tight bun.

Beast sits by her side, panting lightly from the heat emanating from his fur covered body. She pats his head, his fur soft yet slightly coarse, a feeling that brings her a great deal of comfort. Just one thing they had asked her to do, then they would leave her alone. She thinks. She hopes. She Prays.


End file.
